U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,799 discloses the incorporation of a firm edible gel into a base dough for the preparation of soft edible baked products, especially soft cookies. High fructose corn syrup and sucrose syrup are disclosed as suitable edible viscous liquids for preparing edible firm gels which impart softness to baked products. However, a sucrose-based gel, for example, has a higher viscosity than a sucrose syrup of the same relative proportions of sucrose and water,
Incorporation of such gels into a dough imparts greater viscosity to the resulting dough than would incorporation of the same amounts of sucrose and water as: (1) a sucrose syrup or, (2) separately added sucrose and water. To facilitate dough mixing and to provide the desired consistency to the dough for proper working and shaping, larger quantities of water are added to the dough than would otherwise be needed if the sucrose was not present in a gel. These beneficial effects of water addition upon dough forming and machineability become more significant as greater proportions of sucrose are replaced by a sucrose-based gel.
In the preparation of a multi-textured cookie, retention of the extra water in the baked dough can result in: (1) a water activity which renders the product microbially unstable and/or (2) a loss of firmness in the outer dough due to moisture migration from the inner dough to the outer dough. However, retention of extra water within the filling dough or inner dough is desirable from the standpoint of providing a moist and soft texture.
In addition, as long as the water activity of the baked outer or casing dough is lower than the water activity of the sucrose gel, water will tend to migrate from the gel to the baked outer dough thereby gradually resulting in a loss of dual texture. Depending upon factors such as the final moisture content, the level of sucrose gel used in the filling, the relative amounts or filling and casing dough, and the absorptive properties of the flour, a multi-textured cookie having sucrose in the casing and a sucrose-based gel in the filling may exhibit substantial loss in duality of textures after one to two months even if properly packaged. Similar problems may be encountered in multi-textured cookies which do not contain a humectant gel.
In the present invention, a "firming agent" is included in the outer layer of a multi-textured cookie to aid in retaining a firm texture in the outer layer at high water contents during storage.